Hazouri drops out of race for mayor

Former mayor Tommy Hazouri ended his Jacksonville mayoral campaign this evening and called for support for fellow Democrat Nat Glover.

The announcement came at a 5:45 p.m. news conference called by Hazouri at the Omni Hotel downtown. Glover attended with the news conference with him.

Hazouri, who was mayor from 1987 to 1991, had straggled behind rivals in fund-raising, collecting about $230,000 to run fifth among six major candidates. When Glover announced his bid Feb. 6, Hazouri's support eroded more with the entrance of a powerful elected Democrat with strong approval ratings.

Since then, Hazouri acknowledged pressure coming from Democrats to quit the race, though he said last week he still planned to qualify today. Republicans, he said, had urged him to stay, a move that would dilute Glover's support somewhat. By mid-afternoon, however, Keith Myers, a longshot Democrat from the Westside, was the only mayoral candidate to qualify today.

Glover's fund-raising chief, Ted Baker, has said using soft-money -- unlimited donations from the party -- could be an option to fund the sheriff's late-starting campaign. But generally, the party won't deliver soft-money if there's more than one mainstream candidate in the race.

Now there's only Glover.

"Certainly, the use of soft money is available," Duval County Democratic Party Chairman Clyde Collins said.

As The Florida Times-Union first reported on Jacksonville.com at 5 p.m., Hazouri's departure leaves four Republicans to round out the major candidates in the field: Matt Carlucci, John Peyton, Ginger Soud and Mike Weinstein. Independent Steve Irvine is considering whether to qualify, a process that ends Tuesday.

Read Tuesday's Times-Union for more on this report.

Staff writer David DeCamp can be reached at (904) 359-4699 or at ddecampjacksonville.com.